Thursday, June 2, 2016

Short Term Indulgences

Face it. At this very moment, if you're honest with yourself, you'd love to shove a piece of cake into your mouth, stop working those extra hours, and say fuck it, you deserve a break. Cozy up in front of your TV, grab a six pack of that IPA you've had your eye on for a while, and put your favorite sitcom on.

And yet one of several things may happen:

You indulge, you feel relaxed, go to sleep, and wake up the next morning feeling reasonably comfortable, albeit a bit groggy. You're not exactly skinny, but not exactly fat, and have some muscle. Your career is going pretty well, and are considering asking your boss for a 2% raise in a few months. We'll call this situation #1.

You indulge, you feel relaxed, go to sleep, and then next morning you have a little twinge of regret. It's so subtle that it's nearly imperceptible. But somewhere deep down, if you're honest with yourself, you're wondering if it was worth it. You look down and aren't 100% pleased with your body or financial situation. You sort of wish you didn't indulge quite so much last night. But your subconscious is excellent at what it does, protecting you from self-loathing, and you rationalize it. You're pretty sure you're on track to hit your goals, and you can learn to be happy with what the universe gives you in terms of relationships. We'll call this situation #2.

You choose to not indulge, and either do some work or chores you've been putting off, or relax without the beer and cake, perhaps reading a book you are interested in. We'll call this situation #3.

Your indulgences are now no longer the beer and cake. Your indulgences are: A nice Chianti from your cellar. The latest Star Wars movie in your movie theatre room. Perhaps you just fucked a great looking girl who is finishing up her last semester of school. Maybe you order some expensive heavy Mediterranean takeout. You look down, and are extremely pleased with your body. You feel relaxed. When you wake up the next morning, you have zero regrets because you realize that your "indulgences" (if you can even call them that) are not going to hurt your goals. Your body is already at top shape, and you'll simply work a little harder at the gym and eat a lighter lunch today to compensate, bringing yourself back to before your indulgence meal. Your career is on track, so you know that spending time with Jennifer last night is not going to change whether or not your company succeeds. You have the financial freedom to be able to walk away and maintain your lifestyle, so buying that home theatre room doesn't take away from your finances. We'll call this situation #4.

Now before you act like a pain in the ass, and come telling me that there are a million different scenarios, and these 4 barely scratch the surface of all the possible types of nights, this is obviously meant to illustrate a point.

But what is that point?

The point is that these situations are sequential. The point is the twinge of regret. That little voice in the back of your head, knowing you could have better success if you really tried. And that one of the reasons you have not achieved those goals are that you have been indulging too much. The point lies in the links between the situations; the acts of will, the invocation of your choice, in which you move from situation #1 to #2 to #3 and finally to #4.

The point is that the only way to get from situation #1 to situation #2, is to realize you're being complacent in situation #1, and that you deserve better. The point is that the only way to get from situation #2 to situation #3 is to choose to act on that inner-frustration, and turn the dial up on your productivity. The point is that the only way for the majority of us to get to situation #4, is to revel in the discomfort of discipline, and stay in situation #3 until time works its magic, and the discipline compounds.

The point is that discipline plus time is what is necessary to achieve your peak potential. That giving up of your short-term indulgences is one of the best ways to achieve your long-term indulgences.

Time

But let us be honest. Time is a limited resource. And as such, (as described in the excellent book Good Strategy Bad Strategy by Deckle Edge), any logical thinker will realize that implies you must budget your time. You must give up working towards one goal to further another. That for a given hour, you can't be working on your career while you're at the gym. (Do not insult my intelligence by claiming that fitness will help your mental clarity long term, ad nauseum. In the concrete moment, it's simply a fact that you must focus a majority of your energy on one goal.)

So how to you decide how to spend that limited resource?

First, you always start with a long-term vision of success approximately 10 years out. What would my life look like then? What goals would I have ideally achieved? What does my house look like, my body, my bank account, my maid, my car? Great. Now you're just depressed, because it's far off. But there are also a plethora of paths which will lead you to that goal.

So you look back from 10 years, and focus on one year out. What's the next step towards your goal? That's much easier to visualize. There are fewer paths leading there. The actions necessary to achieve that are clear. Perhaps difficult, but clear nonetheless if you think hard enough.

In the moment, you have a few choices of what to do for the next hour. You must simply imagine which of your one-year-out goals are being furthered in the next hour. Your amygdala may want you to indulge in some cake, but your forebrain (which has visualized the path to your one-year-out vision) will choose to either do some extra brushing up on a skill for your career, or perhaps hit the gym.

Since time is a limited resource, you must not regret choosing one action over the other, as any action necessarily is not pursuing another action. Goals must typically take turns. That doesn't mean you are giving up one goal for another, but rather that you are simply accelerating towards them at different paces.

Long Term Indulgences

There's one additional point about indulgences. If you've ever been in the real world and not in some self-help guru's imagination, you realize that burnout is a risk. If you give up all your indulgences now for future power and success, you'll be so exhausted by the time you receive it, you will not enjoy it. Or it will take you so long to enjoy it, because your productive output during your waking hours has slowly creeped from 100% to 65%.

That's why, on your journey to your Lamborghini and fancy whisky, or your two-month-long vacation in the French Riviera with a stellar body, you must indulge on occasion in short-term pleasure.

That's simply the truth of the matter.

The point of these small short-term indulgences are to remind you what you're working for, while cumulatively increasing the odds of getting there. They are meant to boost your productivity at other times.

But they must be infrequent. Because it's extremely easy to slip back into situation #2 if you give in to short-term indulges too often.

You must always bear in mind that their only purpose is a temporary recharge to (1) avoid burnout and therefore (2) to increase the odds of achieving your long-term indulgences.

A majority if your time (maybe 80% of each day, or perhaps 6 out of 7 days) is spent furthering your long-term goals. A very small amount of time is to recharge to keep you sane, and to keep reminding yourself of the excitement of the long-term indulgences that you are looking forward to.

Concluding Remarks

My inner dialog has been conditioned and trained to think about the following questions several times throughout the day:

What am I doing this current hour?

What does my life ideally look like 10 years from now?

What's next, in a year from today, to have that life?

How does my activity for the next hour get closer to one piece of that one-year-out life?

On occasion, the answer to #4 is to relax or indulge with a crazy night out. But a majority of the time, the answer to #4 is either working, reading, lifting, cooking something healthy, or some other disciplined action.

You constantly must make choices for how you're going to spend your time in the next hour. Reveling in the discomfort of discipline. Realize that by being productive, given enough time, is necessary to achieve your long-term indulgences. But you must have a clear vision of that long-term lifestyle. And you must link it to a more immediate one-year-out lifestyle. Because that vision is the only way for you to even know if you're furthering your goals, and to know which goal you're furthering in a given hour.

Sunday, May 1, 2016

"It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.

What truth?

That you are a slave."

What specifically is this blue-pill indoctrination we fight so hard against? Very simply, it's the transactional, economic nature of our world. From advertising to sexual relationship dynamics, the world is transactional.

Objectification

A pejorative typical claim is that "you objectify women" or we "treat them as sub-human". Is that true? Not at all. I objectify everybody. I recognize what each party brings to the table, I recognize how the shit-tests women present are simply an attempt to measure my fitness level. I have no problem objectifying everybody, men and women alike. I recognize the transactional nature of social dynamics, of employer-employee dynamics, of family dynamics, etc. And yet that is, in no way, mutually exclusive with concrete emotions. One can pair-bond and have loyalty and trust amongst other men. One can certainly feel love, and also recognize its evolutionary advantage, with his eyes wide open as to the fact that love may have a shelf-life shorter than he desires. But such a man who objectifies and uses the transactional nature of the world to his advantage is surely manipulative, right?

Manipulative

I think what others would call manipulative, is what some call "strategy". Nobody is forcing Little Miss Slut to stay with Mr. Bad Boy if she's not getting treated as she wants. He isn't physically coercing her to make "poor choices". Or maybe she stays with him because deep down, he is treating her as she wants to some degree? We are all employing some strategy or another, and hence we are all manipulative. The nice guy has his covert contracts. The girl has her hypergamy, her make-up to hide her flaws, etc. Is it a matter of degrees? Is some level of manipulation inherently "worse" than others? Just because we bring our strategy to the surface and are conscious about it, doesn't change the fact that others are employing subconscious strategies which have literally evolved over time. You surely don't need to employ strategy or manipulation to get what you want, as there are plenty of (well, a few) relationships out there in which the parties' underlying subconscious strategies happen to mesh, but it surely increases the probability of success. Is such a "manipulative" asshole toxic?

Toxic

Toxic, if you really think about it, simply means ineffective. A toxic strategy is one which, over the long term, isn't actually best for the parties involved. It erodes the functional dynamics which non-toxic strategies exhibit. Yet if a strategy (conscious or subconscious) is effective, how can it be called toxic? Detractors would rather see things happen "organically" which simply means without any strategy. Perhaps instead of ineffective, it means immoral?

Immoral/Asshole

This was thoroughly covered by a reddit post over a year ago. The gist of the concept is that bluepillers are inherently moral absolutists, in which any action or "truth" is viewed through the lens of morality first-and-foremost. It doesn't matter to them if a strategy is effective, if it's considered immoral. Whereas redpillers are inherently "factual absolutists", sticking only to what is most effective. At the end of the day, the strategy itself is amoral. It's simply information as to what is effective. The fact that it's "wrong" in the eyes of others doesn't change whether or not it's effective. It's ultimately up to the wielder of such knowledge to choose to act on the information. Well, even if it's effective, perhaps it makes the person wielding such a strategy hollow inside and unable to be happy?

Unhappy/Bitter/Angry

In the classic staple post on /r/theredpill regarding the five stages of grief as applied to TRP, when the band-aid is ripped off, and you start to see the transactional nature of the world, you naturally go through Denial, Bargaining, Anger, and Depression. You vehemently try to deny the truth. But once you accept and internalize the transactional nature of the world, you get to Acceptance. But not everybody in the Acceptance stage is happy. What do I mean? Well, you have a choice once you've accepted the nature of the world. There was a recent thread on the darkenlightenment subreddit discussing "The Black Pill", which is essentially someone who sees how things are, and yet doesn't like it. He wants out. This is the defeatist interpretation of Acceptance, which results in one feeling exasperated. You could argue such a man hasn't truly accepted the world, but I believe he has. Think of Cipher. A man who is unplugged from the matrix, and yet wants back in because he hates the truth. Your other choice is to be an opportunist, and learn how to thrive in the true nature of the world. Think of Neo, who finally accepts the world, and then bends it to his will, with his newfound knowledge. Such a man who sees the world how it truly is, can choose to use the rules of the game to better himself. He can even have a serious relationship and a child, knowing full well the risks. In fact, such a man is using his knowledge of the transactional nature of the world, I attest would minimize the risks such as hypergamy. Such a man is ultimately happy because he finds a joy and power in that choice.

Concluding Remarks

To deny the transactional nature of the world is to deny reality.

Recognizing that the world is transactional doesn't imply you can't feel emotions.

Monday, April 27, 2015

I used to suffer from a lot of apathy, laziness, general lethargy, for working hard towards delayed gratification.

I have two ways of dealing with bouts of apathy when they arise. The first I wrote about in January, when I ask myself "how would I fail?" at something.

The second is a simple affirmation:

"If I am waiting to truly prefer to start something over all other activities, I'll be waiting forever."

Now sometimes I really do want to go to the gym. Maybe I ate a lot and feel a surge of energy or bloatedness; maybe I'm mad, or stressed, and need to release some energy.

But the daily grind required for a strong physique just isn't always appealing.

Now once I start exercising, I'm good to go. But my momentum of not exercising sometimes overpowers me and makes the change in direction of my day to start exercising difficult.

It's at these moments, that I remind myself that if I'm waiting until I want to start exercising over all other activities (including sitting on my ass on the couch), I may be waiting a long time.

Rather, my goal of the body I want, and the neurochemicals released after exercise, are more of a positive than the lethargy is a negative.

Don't want to take the plunge of working on a side-business? Maybe a touch of fear of failure, or just a general apathy at the hard work that's required? If you wait until you truly are going to prefer starting a project rather than sit around and enjoy a beer with friends, you may be waiting a long time. Your financial goals should be more powerful than your lethargy. Remind yourself that you are going to be waiting a long time to start something if you need to 100% prefer starting such a project over any other activity.

Tangentially, I used to have some minor approach anxiety at bars/clubs/that-starbucks-in-barnes-and-noble (you know, all the best spots for picking up quality girls). But if I stopped masturbating for a week, my lust would overpower my minor anxiety. If my brain knows that the only way it's going to release this built-up lustful pressure is to sleep with a girl, when I take the immediate release away from myself, that is going to be more powerful than any minor spell of approach anxiety.

Become self-aware as to what's truly the root of your apathy in different situations (start daily mindful meditation if you aren't self-aware enough yet, as long as you can overcome your apathy to start that!), and use psychological tricks on yourself to defeat it.

Saturday, April 4, 2015

I objectify women. I also objectify men. I objectify many things in my life.

But what is objectifying?

It's simply a form of abstract thinking. Abstraction is an important tool in our understanding of the world. We are naturally symbolic creatures, creating symbols to represent situations, memories, people, future outcomes, etc.

Here are some examples of abstract thinking:

Breaking situations down to economics.

Determining the value someone brings to your life.

Having hookups, each serving a sexual purpose for you.

Creating the abstract concept (with legal recognition) of marriage in order to properly raise offspring.

Determining the optimal way to pass on your genes.

Understanding social interactions and power dynamics.

This type of thinking is freeing. It allows you to break down things to their simple value. It allows you to see your house as shelter, food as sustenance, girls as potential mothers and/or sexual fulfillment.

We discuss the economics of sex. We ask ourselves what value we bring to women. We determine which food to put into our body and which habits of contracting our muscles yield the optimal method to achieve our goals.

Heed this warning, however. Too much abstract thinking could be used as a defense mechanism, in order to hide from dealing with the fear of concrete interactions. Concrete interactions consist of the day-to-day interactions with the women in your life. The sensations of sex being pleasurable. Shooting the shit with your bros or your girl.

If you are using abstraction to avoid the pain of your girl possibly rejecting you, of the possibility of someone with whom you are enjoying a good time hurting you, then you are not in control of your own life and you are weak. If that is the case, then your time attempting understanding these interactions is simply a defense mechanism because you are scared of the concrete feeling of rejection which may accompany the concrete feeling of enjoying an interaction.

You can abstract people into the role you play, the value you bring, the value she brings, and the economics of the situation. But abundance means that you can enjoy the concrete interactions, and recognize that if shit goes south, you'll drop a bitch and move on for someone else to enjoy. Both able to enjoy what they bring to your life, and to also enjoy the concrete interactions.

It is freeing to be able to abstract interactions away, but it's even more freeing to both abstract interactions away, and not be afraid of the concrete dynamics. Don't limit your experience to only abstract thinking (usually new readers) or only concrete interactions (usually detractors who despise our "objectification").

Friday, January 23, 2015

This is a mental trick I used to use frequently when I was first breaking out of the blue-pill mentality and figured it might help out some brethren.

The trick is simple: you simply ask yourself how you'd get what you don't desire.

For example, with fitness. Perhaps you've been struggling with diet fads over the years, have made minimal gains, but are frustrated. Maybe you justify eating that one extra slice of pizza, and feel guilty about it afterwards, or rationalize it as "living a little".

Simply pretend that you wished to get fat. Or get skinny and weak. Or get bulky but unattractive. Or whatever you don't want to do. What would you eat? How would you act?

This will start your brain to really tune in to your instincts. You'll realize that you know deep down what sort of behavior will lead to the goal you don't want. That's easy. You'll realize what sort of lethargy, food, exercise level, etc. will get you away from your goal and towards other non-desired goals. Then it will help you realize which "direction" each action will lead you: towards or away from your goals.

This sounds simple and obvious, but it's powerful. Sometimes we have a hard time honing into what we should do, since we are attached to the outcome. By imagining what you'd do to get away from your goal, it's easier to realize what actions will lead you towards your goal.

Some examples:

What sort of behavior would lead to women cringing at your actions?

If you wanted to get rejected by women at a bar, how would you act? How much of an ass, how much of a pussy, etc., would get you rejected by women if you wanted?

If you wanted people to be unattracted to you, how would you dress?

If you wanted a business to fail, how would you spend your days? How lazy would you have to be?

If you want to fail a class, what would you do? How much class would you skip? How much would you study?

If you wanted to get divorce raped, what sort of woman should you look for to marry? What traits would she have?

If you wanted to be a middle age depressed man, what sort of life decisions would lead you to that?

Ad-nauseum.

Don't dismiss this as "obvious" and just say "Hey, DeepThrill, why don't you just ask yourself what you do want, you idiot!?".

Your subconscious is tricky and will rationalize, hamster, etc., because it's attached to the outcome of the goal. The minute you actually want something to succeed, and in some deep down sense believe that you need it to succeed to be happy, you will not be able to think clearly about it.

But when you ridiculously ask yourself how you'd get fat and have your business or coursework fail, you might realize that you're doing that with your daily actions more than you realize, and rationalize it as "relaxing cuz it's necessary."

You know how to achieve your goals, deep down, instinctually, and this will help you tune into those instincts.

This helped me a bunch when I was just starting to gain some confidence and achieve my goals, and maybe it'll help somebody else.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Background

This post is going to be a summary of some viewpoints presented in the book Might is Right: Survival of the Fittest written by pseudonymous Ragnar Redbeard. It contains some red pill themes throughout, and is notoriously controversial and written in a harsh tone that would make most modern "men" blush.

It's important that you keep in mind that this book was written in 1890. It contains many hard truths, and yet also many foolish fallacies, equating man as simply another animal in a Darwinian struggle. The wikipedia entry has good introduction.

I am not necessarily personally advocating all of these views, but rather presenting the author's premise.

Premise

The book essentially makes the claim that force and power is the ultimate goal. It advocates Darwin's survival of the fittest, and discusses how humans are breeding themselves into oblivion.

Love in sexual relationship, Power in social adjustments, Polarity and Magnetism in physics, Gravitation in astronomy, and Might in ethics, are exact synonyms - 'the Persistence of Force'.

Heriditary virtues can only be maintained, by keeping them in constant use.

Each molecule, each animal, fights for its life. You must fight for yours, or surrender.

Man is part and parcel of the animal kingdom and he cannot escape from draconic ordinances

During the whole course of human history, there is not upon record, one authentic instance wherein a subjugated people has every regained property-holding Liberty, without first butchering its tyrants, thereafter confiscating to its own use the lands and realized property that previously had been in the possession of its defeated foes and masters.

Inequality is summed up in the scientific axiom "inferior organisms succumb, that superior organisms may survive, propagate, and possess."

To solemnly proclaim that "all men are created equal" is as stupid and unscientific as to assert that all dogs, cattle, apes, and trees are created equal.

Controversial

Racism and a nod to genocide, as well as misogyny, are rampant throughout this book. Given the underlying premise of maximizing human breeding, it would naturally flow its logic towards things such as control and eugenics.

Are all men really brethren? [in discussing racism]

What proof is there that the brotherhood-of-man hypothesis is in accordance with nature? [in discussing genocide]

Woe unto him... if ever these lovable creates [women] should break loose from mastership, and become the rules or equals of Man (But that is impossible)

A woman is two-thirds womb. The other third is a network of nerves and sentimentality.

Women's noblest occupation is... to breed men.

These are the "milder" of the more controversial pieces, and I'd rather not write the harsher ones them here. Buy the book for yourself if you want more of this.

On Modern Society

(Keep in mind this book was written in 1890)

Personal cowardice is the great vice of our demoralized age. Cowardice is corroding the brain and blood of our race, but men have learnt to disguise this terrible infirmity, behind the canting whine of "humanity" and "goodness".

"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" those three great lights of Modern Democracies are three colossal Falsehoods.

Personal liberty is very nearly unknown and any citizen who dares to think in direct opposition to the dogma of the Majority does so at the risk of his life, if he thinks too loudly.

Most Acts of Congress are the Machiavellian work of eminent rogues

Slay one man (in order to rob him) and you are a murderer. Slay a million men (in order to rob them) and you are a renowned general

My curse be upon the white-livered and the meek; the shameful dwindlings - who call themselves the "virtuous" the "law-abiding" the "righteous" the "godly" the "obedient ones"

Society is altogether a matter of convenience

When society becomes irksome to the strong they may dissolve it.

Society must exist... for companionship is natural... [but when] it develops into a synonym for social restraint, then it becomes a menace

Government and Society are two distinct entities, and care must be taken not to confound them.

On Morality

All ethics, politics, and philosophies are pure assumptions, built upon assumptions.

Freemen should never regulate their conduct by the suggestions of dicta of others, for when they do so, they are no longer free

Human rights and wrongs are not determined by Justice, but by Might. Disguise it as you may

Is the Golden Rule a rational rule? Is it not rather a menial rule - a coward rule - a best-policy rule? Why is it "right" for one man to do unto others?... Should he not combat them, does not that give them carte-blanche to injure and destroy him?

Is it reasonable to ask preying animals to do unto others as they would be done by? ... could they survive?

"Love one another" you say is the supreme law, but what power made it so?

Readers must distinctly understand that sexual morality is nowise condemned in these pages. In all sexual relationships "morality" is what strength decrees. [In discussing how sexual fidelity is an important moral to maintain]

Certainly it is not good strategy for a man to openly proclaim his loss of faith in conventional moralisms; if he desires to get-on in the world. A wiseling keeps his real sentiments on this point to himself - guards them as his own life. ["Think as you like but behave like others" from the 48 Laws of Power]

The man who plays "the game of life" in strict accord with certain cut and dried principles... is not likely to come out a winner. [Related to my post on Learn to Play the Game]

The man-animal can never be rendered absolutely "moral" because by nature he is as full of wiles as a fox

If all men were scrupulously honest, then honesty might be all right (although even that is questionable), but if one percent are deliberately dishonest, then it is assuredly all wrong. Under such resultant circumstances the "ninety nine" actually become victims of "the one".

Every age and nation must interpret Right and Wrong for itself. So must every man.

All arbitrary rules of Right and Wrong are insolent invasions of personal liberty

On Masculinity

Strong men are not deterred from pursuing their aim by anything. They go straight to the goal, and that goal is Beauty, Wealth, and Material Power

Every one who would be free must show his power

Each individual should think as he pleases ... without the least respect for what others think or do - the only limit to his actions being the materialized opposition he actually meets with

Cowards serve masters. Bold men make themselves Masters.

The real man must depend upon himself absolutely

A sensible man should never conform to any rule or custom simply because it has been highly commended by others, alive or dead.

The best fighters are the best race-producers.

The word "brutal" in real life means the reverse of effeminate. A man is brutal who will not turn the other cheek.

On Women's Nature

There is no other earthly passion so fiercely, savegely, egotistic, as sexual desire and it is the physical basis of all human "Love" - even the most ethereal and romantic.

American women's passion for marrying foreigners, arises more or less, from similar instincts.

The nerve cells of splendid feminines and resolute warriors vibrate in rhythmic unison... that neither "creed" nor "culture" has ever been able to eradicate.

When these poor miserable manlings [professors, liberal arts majors, essentially beta men according to the author] do happen (by some lucky chance) to get a woman, they make her life a torment

Without deception of some sort, a woman would have no defence whatever, against rivals, lovers, or husbands. We must not forget that women really hate each other - intensely.

Over intellectualism transfigures women into freaks. The more Animal Nature [femininity] a maiden posses; the more of a true woman she is - the better wife and mother she will make. Culture and refinement are horrible substitutes, for the grand old matronly virtues - beauty, naturalness, purity, maidenly hypnotism.

His daughters are controlled with equal vigor, are not permitted to mate with every strumous Dick, Tom, and Harry, that comes smirking along; but are "given away" to men who are born of good stock.

On Wealth

Next to the belted sword-swinger and the sturdy well-to-do athlete; the successful money-making "main of affairs" [businessman] is especially attractive to the average female mind. He also is a resolute professional fighter.

In such matters the female mind is preternaturally acute...in questions of marriage and love, she is an expert.

If a man possesses wealth (no matter how obtained) he can pick and choose among the most delightful darlings in the land

He also [businessman] climbs to success over his prostrate rivals.

The successful business man is able to support a family, and rear up his children in an environment of comparative freedom, and women are sharp to perceive this.

Other things being equal, women prefer a rich-man to a poor-man for a husband, and they are scientifically justified.

He who is without wealth amidst unlimited quantitites of it, is either a coward, a born slave, or a lunatic; and no self-respecting woman should marry such an imbecile.

Without being capable of logical reasoning, yet women intuitively comprehend that "there is oft a lack of courage in the race of [indebted] men."

On Sexual Market Place

Women of all ranks are still a marketable commodity. Whenever the supply exceeds the demand, they are straightway transmuted into ... concubines or "new women"... When few in number, they posses a certain proportion of selective influence.

When for every eligible man, there is a score of eligible women, their market value dwindles, and instead of "selecting" they become "the selected".

If legislative injunctions, and other bogey contrivances were wholly disregarded; then the Strongest and the Boldest would be fertilizing the pick of the best damsels per marriage.

On Hypergamy

The difference between a man who rules in the Castle, and the other man who is chained in the castle-dungeon, is the difference between success and failure.

When average women find in Statute Law a "deliverer" and a "champion" more powerful than their husbands and brothers, they become both unfaithful and profligate - especially if "well educated".

The bolder and more aggressive men are, the more women of all classes admire them

Capitalists, kings, and presidents never take these servile hounds into consideration - nor do sensible women.

In sexual affairs, they [beta males] must of necessity, mate themselves with second-rate women - who cannot possibly find anything more to their tastes.

Conclusions

This book would likely never get published today. But it was used as a basis for The Satanic Bible. It has some comments on "modern society" in the 1890s which are still prevalent today. It takes an extremely harsh view of the world, dictating that "Might" and power are the ultimate goals in life, and any form of morality is simply a nuisance. It shows how men used to think about race, women, etc., from that time period, and which of those views have fallen out of favor. His prediction on the beta-ization of men seems to have come more or less true. I'm always interested in others' thoughts on these views.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Sleeping:

Regarding my sleeping habits, forcing myself to wake up earlier was hugely useful for my productivity. After about two weeks, I started to naturally wake up earlier. I felt energized and got a lot done in the morning, and realized that my energy levels naturally start to wane around 14:30. It also had the positive effect of forcing myself not to waste time at night and not drink too much alcohol at night, since I knew such activities would hinder waking up the next day.

Smoking:

Regarding smoking weed, it's not something I consider a vice. It's something I can consider a vice, if I do it for recreational purposes. But if I smoke with a predetermined purpose (self-awareness, creativity for a business project, etc.), then it can be a tool, the way caffeine can be a tool. It does take some awareness and humbleness to recognize if I am smoking for recreation or for a purpose.

Meditation:

Meditation had the most positive effects on my life, and I feel like I am just scratching the surface. I feel more aware of my physical body and my mental state. Awareness itself is sometimes sufficient to change something, and it allowed me to choose whether to stay in such a mental state (or physical tension) or not. I'll describe what I've explored below.

Concentration Awareness:

I used concentration meditation for this. This involves focusing on an external object for as long as possible, such as a spot of paint on the wall. Concentrate. Your mind will start randomly "getting bored" and giving you thoughts. Every time a thought pops up, you refocus on the wall. At the start this will last maybe 10-30 seconds. Eventually with practice you'll get to a point where you can do this for many minutes. This will make you aware of your concentration, and also has been described by some as a "muscle" that you don't even realize you have until you have achieved the result.

Physiological Awareness:

I used body scan meditation for this. What I do is lie down flag and keep my eyes open. I focus on each piece of my body (foot, then calf, then thigh, etc.). You can tense the body part up, and untense it, to become aware of the tension feelings. You will eventually get to a point where you start becoming aware of more hormonal changes. You'll notice where the hunger feels, where the stress feels, where the joy feels, etc. Try to "chase down" the physiological feelings mentally.

Then, when you start to feel angry in the "real world" for example, you'll be aware of the physiological feelings. When you start to feel happy, you will be able to focus on it and increase it.

So once you are more aware of physiological hormonal feelings, this merges a bit with your mental emotional state. Which brings me to:

Mental Awareness:

I used mindfulness meditation for this. This involves sitting and letting any thought come into your brain. You don't fight it. You then "take a step back", and just acknowledge it as "interesting thought" and move on to the next one. This is sort of like amused mastery at your own mind. Eventually once you start dismissing more thoughts (similar to Concentration Awareness), deeper more emotional thoughts will start coming to the surface.

When combined with concentration awareness, you'll be able to focus your mental energy on the thoughts you want, for your emotions.

Emotional Awareness:

For this, you'll want to do a similar technique to the body scan meditation, where you tense the muscles and release. So you think of a memory in which you felt a strong emotion in the past. You try to feel the rage, or joy, or excitement, and then turn it off. You keep practicing this, and you'll be more aware and have more control over your emotions. The ultimate frame control.

Summary:

#NoNothingNovember was great for me to recognize certain vices which were holding me back, and increase my own discipline. Any excuse for self-improvement is something I fully embrace. I am much more particular about my daily actions. I now look at each action (even if it's just relaxing and watching a movie) as either self-improvement or not. I am much more deliberate about my actions, and have been using my time much more efficiently. For each moment, I make sure to ask myself what action would benefit me, and then do it.